


Mmm, cheese.

by ghostlyhamburger



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Fluff, My First Work in This Fandom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-02
Updated: 2017-04-02
Packaged: 2018-10-14 01:29:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10526046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghostlyhamburger/pseuds/ghostlyhamburger
Summary: What if Marinette had camembert in her bag?





	

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to xxwisegirlxx on Tumblr for beta-ing this. Couldn't have done it without you. <3

Marinette woke up to the sun streaming in her eyes and birds chirping outside her window. It would have been a lovely morning, if it didn’t mean she’d slept through her alarm…again.

She yawned and stretched lazily before the adrenaline hit. Then, she shot out of bed, getting dressed as fast as possible. She ignored the small red kwami who sat on top of her purse, watching her.

“I’m sorry, Marinette, I tried to wake you up,” Tikki said. “I know it’s not your fault you were out late again.”

“What am I supposed to say to Madame Bustier, though?” Marinette complained. “’Sorry, I overslept because I was busy saving all of Paris! Superheroes shouldn’t be marked as tardy!’”

She punctuated her words by grabbing her purse and schoolbag and heading down out of the loft. Tikki sighed and flitted after the teenager, settling in her purse.

Marinette raced through the bakery, only pausing briefly to grab one of whatever just came out of the oven. She heard her mother tell her that it was “camembert en croute—eat it warm!” before she wrapped the pastry in a napkin and shoved it into her schoolbag to eat later.

She arrived at the school in record time and slid into her seat. She managed to break a crumb off her pastry and eat it before the bell rang and the teacher entered the classroom.

Marinette wasn’t too concerned. She’d eat later.

Mme. Bustier had planned a particularly soporific lesson that day, discussing the themes of a classic novel that no one really enjoyed. While the students tried to pay attention, most of them turned their thoughts to doodles and notes passed around the classroom.

(If any of them thought their teacher didn’t notice, they were wrong. She simply didn’t mind, as she’d hated this book when she was a student, too.)

Even Tikki was bored, and she usually spent most of her day hiding from view and idly listening to conversations around her. But on this day, she found herself reading the ingredient contents of a lip balm Marinette kept in her purse. So when she was certain that no one would notice her, she flew out of the purse and into Marinette’s schoolbag. Sometimes Marinette had a small paperback in there for her to read.

Tikki was not expecting to see another kwami in the bag. “Plagg?”

The black cat kwami was sitting in the middle of Marinette’s napkin, the remnants of the teenager’s breakfast around him. “Tikki! Good to see you! Camembert?”

Tikki just sighed. “Plagg…”

Minutes passed before Marinette noticed that her schoolbag seemed to be having a conversation with itself—and if she noticed the noise, someone else might start asking questions. She grabbed the bag and abruptly stood, ready to leave the classroom before coming up with an excuse.

“Marinette!” her teacher admonished. “What are you doing?”

“I, uh…bathroom!” Marinette blurted before rushing out the door.

Once in the privacy of the bathroom, she set her bag down on the floor and yanked it open. “Okay, Tikki, what’s going on in…there…?”

Her breakfast was gone, and there was a small black creature talking to Tikki. It looked up at her. “Hi. I’m Plagg.”

Marinette was stunned speechless.

“He’s another kwami,” Tikki said. “He helps Chat Noir.”

“Does that mean Chat Noir is here?” Marinette asked, furrowing her brow in concern. “Is there an akuma?”

“No, he’s just in class right now. I got bored and wanted cheese,” Plagg replied before rummaging through the empty food wrapper to find one more cheesy crumb.

“In class? He goes to school here?”

“Oh yeah, he’s in your class, I think.”

“Plagg!” Tikki admonished. “Stop talking about him, you know you can’t tell her that much!”

The black cat kwami just shrugged. “Oops. Hey Marinette, got any more cheese? Chat Noir doesn’t feed me.”

Tikki rolled her eyes, but Marinette nodded earnestly. “I can bring you more tomorrow. I don’t need to know anything about Chat, okay? It’s nice to meet you, though.”

“You should go back to class,” Tikki said. “We’ll be quieter.”

Marinette nodded and picked up her bag. She slipped back inside the classroom silently, with only Alya giving her a concerned look. She smiled at her friend to get rid of any worry before setting her schoolbag back on the ground.

During the rest of class, she kept the bag in the corner of her vision. She trusted Tikki, but how could she be sure this other kwami—Plagg—wasn’t going to give her away?

So her attention was caught when she saw a tiny black figure float out of her bag. She watched it intently as it scurried a few feet away and ended up inside another student’s bag.

Marinette felt a sudden chill. She knew that bag. She’d spent hours staring at the back of its owner’s head.

Plagg would have gone back to Chat Noir.

Plagg had returned to Adrien.

Did that mean--was Adrien…?

Marinette shook her head and paid attention to the class. That was too much to think about right now.

*

After classes had ended for the day, Marinette found herself in her room, making a list of every boy in her class, and who they’d been when akumatized. Plagg had said that Chat Noir was in the class, but that didn’t mean that it was definitely Adrien…

She was distracted when Tikki floated into her field of vision, and jumped slightly when the kwami asked, “What are you doing?”

Marinette groaned. “I don’t know. I’m trying to figure out who Chat Noir is, but I know that’s a bad idea.”

Tikki shrugged. “Not exactly. Plenty of Ladybugs and Chat Noirs have known each other before.”

Marinette looked at the kwami with wide eyes. “But—I thought I couldn’t tell anyone!”

“Chat Noir is your partner, Marinette,” Tikki replied. “If you trust him enough to know who he is, then it’s all right. It’s usually best to keep your identity secret until you have that trust, though.”

Marinette nodded idly and wrote “Evillustrator” in her journal before crossing out Nathaniel’s name. The only name not crossed out at that point was Adrien’s.

“Tikki,” she said slowly. “Can you think of a time when Adrien was akumatized?”

Tikki shook her head no.

“Then I think…I’m pretty sure…” the teenager took a deep breath before continuing. “Adrien might actually be Chat Noir.”

“Isn’t that good?” Tikki asked. “He’s your friend!”

“I should get some sleep,” Marinette mumbled, putting away her journal.

“Marinette?”

The teenager looked at her kwami with confusion clear in her eyes. “Tikki…has any Chat Noir before hated Ladybug?”

“Well, yes,” Tikki replied. “But that won’t happen to you! Chat Noir is you friend, and if he is Adrien, that means he’s still your friend.”

Marinette’s response was to lay down on her bed, pull her pillow over her head, and groan.

She stayed like that all night, eventually drifting off to sleep under her pillow. She only moved once, at about 2 in the morning when she suddenly sat up and shrieked.

“What’s wrong?” Tikki asked sleepily.

“Remember Valentine’s Day?” Marinette asked. “I was just dreaming about that—and Chat Noir turned into Adrien—and, Tikki, I don’t know what to do, I kissed Adrien!”

“Go back to sleep,” the kwami replied.

Marinette settled under her blanket again and faded back into uneasy dreams.

*

In the morning, before rushing out the door, Marinette stopped at her family’s fridge to grab as much cheese as she could fit into her schoolbag. She would stink today, but she had a plan.

Throughout the day, she watched her schoolbag carefully. When she saw a black blur dart inside, she raised her hand, asked to be excused, and took the bag out into the hallway.

After ducking into a deserted classroom, Marinette opened up her bag to find Plagg happily munching on cheese. The kwami looked up at her and grinned. “Thanks! Is this brie? It’s delicious!”

“I’ve got a couple questions for you,” Marinette said, settling herself into a sitting position on the floor. “Chat Noir is Adrien, right?”

“Can’t tell you that,” Plagg said with a burp. “I’ll tell you what I can if you can promise me more cheese tomorrow!”

“Deal,” Marinette replied. “So, what’s Chat Noir like when he’s not fighting crime?”

“Annoying,” Plagg complained. “Always going on and on about how much he loves Ladybug. Makes me sick.”

“I thought he was always just joking,” Marinette murmured as her face flushed red. “So, he talks about me a lot?”

At this, Tikki flew into Marinette’s face, her tiny arms crossed and a stern look on her face. “You shouldn’t be asking Plagg anything. I know you’re excited that Chat might be Adrien, but aren’t you going too far? You’re not respecting his privacy.”

Marinette frowned and nodded. “Yeah. You’re right. I’m sorry, Plagsg. I’ll let you get back to Chat, and don’t worry, I’ll still bring you some cheese tomorrow.”

“Sounds good to me,” Plagg replied as Marinette picked up her bag and headed back to class.

She didn’t make it back to the classroom before a large crash shook the school. Plagg darted out of the bag and headed straight towards the classroom, zipping through the wall in his way.

*

The akuma was easy to deal with. A jilted girl who’d been stood up for a lunch date was turning people into picnic foods. The item to capture was easy enough to spot—not many akumas carried full picnic baskets on their arm.

After the fight, Ladybug found herself in a cleared-out park beside Chat Noir. They only had a few minutes left, but that was enough time for Ladybug to blurt out, “Um, Chat, we’re friends, right?”

“Of course, my lady,” he replied with his usual grin. “Paw-lways.”

Ladybug just frowned slightly. “We’d still be friends no matter what, right? No matter who we are outside of this?”

“Well, yeah,” Chat said. “Why would you think we wouldn’t?”

“I’m not exactly as great as Ladybug without the mask,” she replied. “I’m clumsy, I’m shy…I just don’t think you’d see me the same.”

“I’ll always think you’re purr-fect,” he said with a cheeky smile. “Besides, I don’t make as many hilarious jokes when I’m not Chat Noir.”

“That sounds better to me,” Ladybug said, grinning slightly. “But, thanks.”

Chat’s ring beeped loudly, followed closely by the beep from Ladybug’s earrings. “We should get going,” he said.

*

The next day, Marinette made sure to pack some cheese into her purse.

“I thought you weren’t going to bother Plagg anymore,” Tikki said to her as Marinette walked to school.

“I’m not,” she replied. “I’m just bringing him some cheese as a thank you for putting up with me. No more questions, I promise.”

“All right,” Tikki replied. “It’s not a good idea for you to talk to him without Chat Noir knowing, though.”

“Then, you can tell him what the cheese is for!” Marinette suggested. The kwami just frowned. “Please, Tikki?”

As it turned out, Plagg didn’t even listen to Tikki’s explanation before diving right into the cheese as soon as class started. Marinette had packed so much food as a thank-you that the kwami was in cheesy heaven.

The day was fairly normal. Mme Bustier lectured about the themes and motifs in the latest novel the class read, while the students tried to pay attention. At a break between classes, Adrien gathered up his things and left the school early for a photoshoot.

Marinette had known for a while that he had a photoshoot coming up in the middle of a school day, thanks to her obsessive knowledge of Adrien’s schedule. Still, she was sad not to spend the rest of the day staring at the back of his head.

The rest of the day was far less boring than expected. In the middle of a math lesson, everyone’s phone began to light up and buzz in unison as news poured in.

“There’s an akuma attack the next street over, heading our way!” Alya said, a bit more gleeful than any other student would be. “We should get out of here, right, Madame Mendeleiev?”

Their teacher just sighed. “All right, class is excused. I expect everyone back at their desks as soon as Ladybug and Chat Noir take care of this!”

The classroom cleared out, and Marinette dashed to the bathroom to transform. She yanked open her bag and cried, “Tikki, spots—Plagg?”

The kwami looked up from his last piece of cheese. “Hi. What’s going on?”

“There’s an akuma nearby,” Marinette said. “Why aren’t you with Adrien?”

“I never said Adrien was-”

“It doesn’t matter!” Marinette interrupted frantically. “I need Chat Noir right now, and you’re not with him!”

“I’ll find him,” Plagg replied casually as he floated out of Marinette’s bag. “Don’t worry your little antenna about it.”

“Marinette, you need to transform!” Tikki urged as Plagg left the room.

As soon as the teenager became Ladybug, Plagg frantically came flying back. “All right, I shouldn’t be asking you this, but—where’s Adrien?”

“He left school early for a photoshoot,” Ladybug replied. “Why didn’t you go with him?”

The kwami crossed his little arms over his chest and pouted. “The cheese distracted me. Can you take me to him?”

“Um-” Ladybug jumped as a large crash came from outside. “All right. Okay. Let’s go, fast.”

*

It wasn’t long before Ladybug swung her way across Paris and landed right in front of Adrien, blocking the photographer.

“Ladybug?” Adrien asked, bewildered. “What are you doing here?”

“There’s an akuma,” she replied. She raised her voice so all those around would hear her. “I came to make sure everyone evacuates this area!”

The photographer and all those assisting the photoshoot ran away. Adrien’s bodyguard hesitated, until Adrien called to him, “I’ll catch up with you! Get out of here!”

Once the area was cleared, Adrien gave Ladybug a sheepish smile. “So, uh…I should get out of here too, right?”

Instead of replying, Ladybug looked around the area. “Okay, Plagg, it’s safe.”

The kwami peeked out from behind Ladybug’s pigtails, and Adrien felt all the blood drain from his face. “Plagg? Ladybug? So you-”

“Look, we can talk later,” Ladybug said, “but right now I need Chat Noir. Come on!”

Adrien was still bewildered, but just nodded sincerely. “Plagg! Claws out!”

Any last shreds of doubt Ladybug had vanished as Adrien transformed before her eyes. When he stood before her as Chat Noir, she was able to put aside the crazy thoughts bouncing around her head. “The akuma’s by the school. Let’s go!”

*

This akuma was easy to defeat. Instead of sticking around for any photographers or journalists, the crimefighting duo ran to a deserted alley as soon as the coast was clear.

They were quiet for a moment, awkwardly looking at each other as they each waited for the other to talk.

“So,” Chat Noir finally said. “Is this why you were asking all those questions the other day? Because you know?”

Ladybug nodded. “Your kwami made his way into my bookbag during class, and I kind of figured it out from there.”

“During class?” he asked. “Does that mean--do we go to the same school?”

“Yeah,” she said. “It’s, uh, weird how we never noticed before, huh?”

Chat just nodded dumbly. As he did, his transformation fell, allowing Plagg to zip away from him.

“Hey, got any cheese?” the kwami immediately asked Ladybug.

“I might, if you left any in there,” she replied.

Adrien was silent for a moment, processing what he was hearing, then asked, “You’ve been bringing him cheese? That’s why he hasn’t complained lately…”

Ladybug’s face turned as red as her mask. “I talked to him a couple of times, and I was bringing him cheese as a thank you. I wasn’t trying to pry or anything, I swear!”

“I, uh…I didn’t think you were?” Adrien said. “I wouldn’t blame you, though. I’ve got a lot of questions about you.”

“I’m not as interesting as you think I am,” she mumbled in reply, unable to look him in the eye. With a beep from her earrings, her transformation faded away. “I’m just-”

“-Marinette?” Adrien asked. “It’s been you this whole time?”

She nodded. “I’m-I’m sorry, I should go.”

“Wait!” He stepped towards her, reaching out for her hand but stopping himself before he touched her. “Please, just—don’t go yet. I can’t believe you’ve been Ladybug this whole time! You’ve been—you’ve been right behind me in class!”

“I’m sorry!” she blurted. “I’m sorry, I should have told you sooner, but when I found out you were _you_ , I couldn’t! I can’t even talk around you!”

“It’s okay!” Adrien said, now reaching the few more inches so his hand could brush hers. “I told you, I’d like you no matter who you are. It is kind of a relief you’re not Chloe, though…”

Marinette finally cracked a smile, finally looked him in the eye again. “I’m glad that it’s you,” she willed herself to say.

“I’m really glad it’s you, too,” he replied.

 

 


End file.
